St Mary’s Lwak Girls High School: Home of beauties with brains

In their screaming red and white uniforms, nyi Lwak (Lwak girls) or ‘Red Devils’ as they are referred to, are always conspicuous in Kisumu City  during school opening and closing days. Lwak Girls is among the oldest girls’ high schools in Kenya. 

The school lies on 30-acres in Rarieda District, Siaya County, and was built by the Franciscan Sisters of St Anna from Oudenbosh, Holland in 1965 with the objective of empowering the ordinary village girl child through education.

At inception, the school had two classrooms, one lab, and a small hall which served both as dormitory and dining hall. Back then, the school started with around 300 girls, and now has around 1,165 students with six class streams.

Over the years, the school, known for grooming beautiful girls with long hair, has been turning in exemplary performances in hockey as well as music and drama festivals. The architect of music and drama, The Nairobian learnt, was a French teacher, Odhiambo James, nicknamed OJ. The school has been named twice among the most-preferred rural schools. Their school bus, because of the red and white colours, was nicknamed ‘Colgate.’

Notable ‘Red Devil’ alumni guided by the motto ‘In Pursuit of Excellence and Integrity’ include ODM politician and former Kasarani MP Elizabeth Ongoro, popular socialite Corazon Kwamboka, Unicef’s Pamela Steele, Radio Netherlands Worldwide’s Naijerria Towett, entertainer and PR publicist Adhyambo Odera and ISAT head of customer Africa and Middle East, Mary Onguko.